How is absolute value interpreted on a number line?

• A. As the distance of a number from zero.
• B. As the sign of a number.
• C. As the square of a number.
• D. As the distance between any two numbers.

Answer: (A)

The main idea is that absolute value tells you how far a number sits from zero on the number line, regardless of direction. It’s the distance from that number to zero, so it’s always a nonnegative length. For example, the distance from 3 to zero is 3, and from -5 to zero is 5, so their absolute values are 3 and 5. This is different from the sign of a number, because absolute value ignores whether the number is positive or negative. It isn’t the square of a number, which would be the number multiplied by itself. Also, the distance between two numbers is given by the absolute value of their difference, |a − b|, which is about how far apart two points are, not just from zero.